Awaken Within
by Kapra90
Summary: It was an ordinary day when Finn and Jake befriend a flame person named Red. Together, they make a discovery which will determine the outcome of their fates, as well as the fate of all Ooo, when an old foe arises once again to wreak havoc. Co-written by Sinclair5198.
1. Meeting Red

**Greetings, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to my first Adventure Time fanfiction! This is a favorite show of mine, and I'm excited to get my creative juices flowing! Better yet, along with me, my good friend Sinclair5198 will be co-writing and assisting me with this fic, so you can give us both kudos as the chapters start rolling! Hope all you AT fans enjoy reading this new fic! :)**

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Under a bright blue sky, two best friends labored for a privileged princess. One would say their lives were far from normal, but for them, this was just another ordinary day. The two had certainly already been through thin and thick together, but the two heroes knew little of what adventures and journeys laid ahead.

Finn wiped sweat from his brow, standing up straight as his sword wrapped around his wrist, the leafy material retracting quickly as he nodded in satisfaction. "Well, Jake… this should take care of it, don't you think?"

"Yeah… PB's gonna be happy that we made this bridge out of twigs and stuff while the drawbridge is being repaired." Jake replied.

As the words left his mouth, their 'temporary' drawbridge collapsed, and the two bros groaned.

"Man, we're never gonna make a stable bridge!" Finn frowned.

"Well, we could get sturdier materials, but I don't want to get all poked up by all those thorns. Forest vines are perfect for sturdy bridges but we'll be pulling those little stickers out of our hot bods for a week."

Finn thought for a moment. "You know what we need? We need some armor. Really good armor. I wonder if Choose Goose has some? Should we go ask?"

"Yeah, why not?" Jake replied, and the two headed along their way to visit the bombastic goose. After some time, they approached the familiar kiosk.

"Choose Goose! Do you have some good quality armor we could buy?" Finn asked.

"Armor I have, some helmets as well, but the quality of such, it isn't too swell!" Choose goose replied, showing Finn and Jake his stock of used, dented, and broken armor.

"Man… Choose Goose, we need good armor so we can help PB finish this temporary bridge! I don't want to have thorns stuck in my fur or I'll have to shave it off… and that won't be fun. I'm a manly dog, Choose Goose, and manly dogs gotta have hair!" Jake exclaimed.

"Hm…" Choose Goose pondered. "Ah! I know just the place! Go to Tinanium Red in the fire kingdom, the armor there will shield anything from your face!"

"Titanium Red… Fire Kingdom." Finn sighed lightly. "Okay, thanks Choose Goose."

As they headed off, Jake frowned a bit. "Hey man… still upset over Flame Princess?"

"Yeah… maybe if we go really quick and leave, it'll be easier." Finn replied.

Finn and Jake made their way to the Fire Kingdom, taking Choose Goose's directions to get to Titanium Red. It took them some time and got into some close calls with a few of the fire citizens, but with the protective spell on them thanks to a run in with Flambo, they reached Titanium Red, entering the establishment. When they saw the variety of excellent quality armor up for sale, it snapped Finn right out of his funk and he beamed.

"Woah…! Jake, this armor is crazy amazing! I wanna get this!" Finn exclaimed.

Red, the shop owner, came out from doing a bit of welding in the back, smiling lightly when she saw she had customers. "Hey, you guys! Looking for something specific or just browsing around?"

Finn turned, smiling a bit. "Oh, hey! Well, we need armor that blocks thorns."

Red tilted her head. "Well, doesn't really narrow your choices down… all of this armor is forged with excellent craftsmanship; I would know, I did them all myself." She giggled. "It's the best handmade armor in all of Ooo."

"Oh… hm… well, which set should Jake and I choose then?"

"Well, I can see which one fits you both best… let me see here…" Red walked through the store, tapping her chin until she found some armor to fit both of them. She had them try it on, and Finn and Jake brofisted when they looked at themselves.

"This armor is great! Nothing can stop us from finishing that bridge now!" Jake smiled. "So uh, how much is this armor?"

"The two sets will cost a total of 5000 gold pieces." Red smiled.

Finn and Jake's faces dropped, looking at each other with dread. Finn slowly took off his backpack and emptied its contents, finding a single gold piece inside. "Uh… that's gonna be a problem." Jake said.

"Aww man! What are we gonna do? We NEED this armor!" Finn frowned.

Red pursed her lips in thought. "Hm… how about this. See, I'm gonna be a bit… honest with you. It can get pretty lonely welding armor. I need some friends to hang out with. If you guys let me hang out with you and keep me entertained, then maybe I can let you work off the debt. Deal?"

"Deal, deal!" Finn exclaimed.

Red giggled. "Alright then. So, now that you're my friends, you've got to give me your names."

"Oh! Yeah, I'm Finn, and this is my bro, Jake. He's a magical dog."

"Nice to meet you both. I'm Red, a low grade flame citizen."

"Huh? Low grade?"

"See, in flame culture, your societal rank is determined on the grade of your flame. Flame princess for example, she has a flame so powerful she can turn white hot. I'm called Red because my flame isn't very strong."

"Oh… yeah." Finn frowned.

"Don't mention FP… he's still getting over their b-r-e-a-k-"

"Jake, I can spell. And you whisper really loud, man." Finn said.

"Oops. Sorry." Jake replied.

"Wait… you went out with the Flame Princess? That's pretty awesome… you must be pretty bold to do that." Red smiled. "Don't feel too down, us flame people are pretty hard to get along with."

"Well we're getting along pretty alright." Finn smiled.

"Ugh, I just remembered I'm running out of my denser alloys! I hate having to go around finding that stuff." Red groaned.

"Finn and I need to finish that bridge in Candy Kingdom... maybe we can help you look afterwards?" Jake suggested. "We love looking for stuff at Iceberg Beach, even though most of what we find is just baby socks... hehe, baby socks."

Red smiled and nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

* * *

Back in the Candy Kingdom, Princess Bubblegum sighed, the thorn bridge idea not going quite as planned.

"Starchy's stuck! Look at my little legs wiggling in the air!" Starchy cried.

"Eek..." Jake made a face at the candy citizens all stuck in the thorny bridge.

"What were you two thinking?! This violates fifteen building permits and safety regulations!" PB frowned.

"Well, we couldn't find anything sturdy except for these thorn vines..." Finn frowned. "Sorry we messed up your temporary bridge."

Red watched from a few feet away, tapping her chin. "Hey, Finn, Jake!" Red called. "Get the Candy people out of the thorns, I have an idea."

"I've got this handled!" Finn shouted back, hopping up and rounding up all the Candy people, placing them down on safe ground.

Red nodded and she went over to the thorn bridge, holding her finger out and slow burning a thorn off. She smiles, going about and doing the same with the others, and then Finn and Jake secured the vines a bit tighter once she finished.

"Wow, all the thorns are gone!" PB smiled. "Now the bridge is safe to cross. Thank you, um...?"

"Red's the name." She smiled.

"Yes, thank you!" PB nodded to her before going along her way, the Candy citizens chattering happily as they crossed without trouble.

"Wow, that was awesome Red! Normally if another flame person tried that they would have burned the whole thing!" Finn said.

"Huh... never thought being a low grade flame would be a GOOD thing." Red thought aloud.

"Now that that's done, let's go crack open some icebergs!" Finn exclaimed.

The three headed to Iceberg Beach, seeing a few icebergs had already washed up on the shore. Red helped melt them and Jake sighed lightly.

"Socks, socks, and more baby socks." Jake groaned. "Come on, we need to find something good!"

Red leaned her head forward, seeing something beneath the waters. "Hey Finn, I think I see some nice pieces of metal in there I could use... but if I go in the water my flame will go out."

"Don't worry, I'll get it!" Finn smiled.

"Finn, I thought you were afraid of the water...?" Jake said.

"Nah man, only if it's an ocean. This is a lake." Finn replied before diving in.

"Oh yeah..." Jake said.

Underwater, Finn swam around collecting the metal, he would swim back up for breath and drop off some more pieces. As he was collecting the last few pieces, he blinked a bit when he noticed something. He brought the last bit of metal back up.

"That's all of it, right? This should make another set or two... thanks Finn!" Red said.

"Just hang on one second, I think I saw something!" Finn replied as he dove back under, something encased in a large chunk of ice sticking out from the sand underwater. He resurfaced, gasping for air. "Jake! Jake, you have to help me with something!"

"Huh? Did you find buried treasure?" Jake asked. "If you did we'll have to share most of it with Red being we kinda owe her a munch of money and all."

"No, it looks like... just, can you swim down and then get all big and pull it out?" Finn asked.

"Oh, alright... this better be worth it!" Jake said as the two dove back under, and Red watched from the surface curiously.

Finn held his breath, his cheeks puffed out as he pointed to the large iceberg embedded in the sand. Jake shrugged, rolling up non-existent sleeves as he grew large, gritting his teeth as he gripped the iceberg tightly, slowly pulling it out. When he did, it made a big splash, and Red had to quickly move back to avoid being doused with water.

"Hey, watch it you guys!" Red called out.

"Woah..." Finn breathed when he and Jake stood once again on the shore. The large iceberg contained a chunk of what looked like a subway, and they noticed something... or someone... was concealed inside a hole in part of the wall where the tiles had broken away.

"Jake... who is that? I see someone in there!"

"Finn, hold up. remember the LAST time we thawed someone in an iceberg? No more business men, Finn!"

"But, this time it looks different..." Finn tilted his head, and Jake moved in to take a closer look as well as Red, and the three stared, trying to see a bit clearer who the individual inside could be.

Little did they know this individual would forever change their lives.

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**Well, first chapter and we've already got some mystery and plot twists going! Who is inside the iceberg? What more is there to know of Red? Will she fit in well with the bros? Find out more next chapter, and please don't forget to review! :D**


	2. Opening Eyes

**Welcome back, everyone! Here we are with the next chapter! It's going to be a bit slow for the first few chapters while we get this jigsaw puzzle started, so just bear with me for a bit. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy anyhow! :D**

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Red was the first to take a step forward. "Guys, I can try to help melt the ice but it's still gonna take a while... low grade, remember?"

"Go for it!" Finn exclaimed.

The flame girl nodded, looking to the huge chunk of ice, slowly starting to melt the surface and make a dent in the iceberg. When she melted enough, Finn tore off a chunk of the wall sticking out, chopping away at the ice to help her. Finn tilted his head when he bent down, furrowing a brow when about half of the individual's body was exposed from the ice.

"Hey buddy, you okay?" Jake asked.

"Jake... it's a girl... and she looks... she looks-"

"Hot? Sexy? Curvalicious?" Jake chuckled.

"No, Jake! She looks... human...!" Finn's eyes darted, chopping at the ice quicker to get the girl out. He pulled her out of the iceberg, and though she wasn't as shabby and gross as the business men, she lacked life's color, and the three looked down at her. Blonde, wet hair clung to her neck and face, her lips a pale shade of blue.

"Sorry Finn... this human, if that's what she is... doesn't look like she's alive." Red commented.

Finn stared at her for some time, furrowing a brow as he looked around. "We have to bring her to Princess Bubblegum. Maybe she can-"

"Finn, the last time she brought something to life, it bit us in the rear. Literally. TWO TIMES." Jake said flatly. "Lady's still traumatized over it too."

"We have to try SOMETHING, Jake! I mean, what if she IS a human! I thought I was the only one left! I... I suddenly feel stuff man, deep stuff. Like... maybe we have some kind of bonding thing."

Jake groaned. "Come on, Finn... I don't wanna carry a dead body..."

"Well, who CAN we talk to then?" Finn asked.

"Finn, you've been living long enough to know there's two methods to solve a problem. Princess Bubblegum will try to bring her back the scientific way, and I already told you why I'm against that. There's only one other way, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but there's only one person we're sort of on good terms with that does things the magical way." Jake said.

Red raised a brow. "Uh... I'm sorry, who are we talking about...?"

"Ice King." Finn and Jake groaned at the same time. "Well, it's worth a shot." Finn said.

"You can carry the dead body." Jake said.

Finn sighed, hoisting the dead girl over his shoulder and the three ventured toward the ice kingdom.

"Hey, I better not go too much farther... the ground is starting to sting..." Red hissed.

"Good point. Come on, Jake." Finn said as they headed towards the entrance, going inside. "Ice King! Ice King, get your gross beard out here!"

Ice King suddenly bounced into the room, giggling. "My bros! My fro bros, my tur-bros, my-"

"Stop that." Finn said flatly, sighing. "Look, we need your help with something."

"Ooo, YOU need MY help? Hehe, what a wonderful day this is!" Ice King exclaimed.

"Okay, okay, calm down. Look... Jake and I found this... this girl. And, we think she's human... but... she's not alive. We need you to help her to be alive again."

Ice King tilted his head as Finn gently laid her down on the floor. "This is all you need help with? I thought it would be something crazy like a stalker ghoul or something. My wizard powers can handle this in a jiffy!" Ice King rolled up his sleeves, only for them to slide right back down again, holding his hands out as he chanted a spell out, his hands glowing. Finn looked from Ice King to the girl as she too began to glow.

"Is it working...?" Finn asked.

"Of course it's working, I'm a wizard for penguin's sake- AHH!" Ice King, Finn and Jake were suddenly flung back a few feet when a small burst of light was emitted, and it took them a moment to get back to their feet.

"Okay Ice King, what did you screw up THIS time...?" Jake asked, dusting himself off.

"I didn't do anything wrong, I swear!" Ice King exclaimed.

Before Finn could say anything, he gasped lightly when he heard lightly breathing, a soft groan from the girl on the ground and he detected movement. "Wait... wait Jake, I think it worked!"

"It worked...? Ah- um w- well of COURSE it worked!" Ice King put his hands on his hips. "So now you guys owe me. One date with Princess Bubblegum and-"

"NO!" Finn and Jake exclaimed, and Finn knelt down. "Hey... um, hi there, I'm Finn, I saved you! What's your name?"

"Oh sure, you're the one who rescued her with your non-wizard powers, okay." Ice King rolled his eyes.

The girl looked around a bit, furrowing her brow before focusing her gaze on Finn. "I... where... where am I...?"

Finn blinked. "Oh, you're in the Ice Kingdom... don't worry, if you hate it here we can bring you somewhere else, I-"

"Wait, so..." The girl closed her eyes a moment, rubbing her head. "I... I don't remember much... did... are we in an ice age...?"

"Huh? No no, this is just the Ice Kingdom... like, once you leave the kingdom it isn't all cold and stuff."

"Hey Finn, who knows how long she's been in that ice berg... she's probably been in there so long that everything is totally different." Jake commented.

"Oh... Jake, we HAVE to bring her to see PB now... how are we supposed to help her if we know nothing about her?" Finn asked.

"Okay, let's go get her brain fixed... hopefully." Jake said.

"Hey!" Ice King shouted. "What about me, huh? You guys owe me something!"

"Come on, man... can't you just consider this a favor?" Jake groaned.

"Now Jake, that wouldn't be being a very good friend now, would it?" Ice King said.

Jake rubbed his forehead sighing. "Alright, what do you want?"

Ice King tapped his chin, thinking. "Hmm... okay. When you find out about her brain stuff and whatever..." He flailed his hands a bit as he said this. "... find out if she was, at any point, a princess. If she is... I want to have one date with her."

The girl blinked, looking around at the others talking, utterly bewildered.

"No! Why would we let you do that?" Finn exclaimed.

"Because if you don't, I'll just freeze her back into a block of ice, hehe!" Ice King giggled.

Finn grit his teeth. "ICE KING!"

"So do we have a deal, or not?" Ice King wiggled his brows.

"Ugh, fine! But I hope she kicks you right in your ice cubes! Come on, Jake." Finn said, and the girl looked around a bit oddly, glancing at Ice King for a moment, confused by everything going on. He waved at her, and she cleared her throat, following Finn and Jake out of the Ice Kingdom. "Don't worry, uh... whatever your name is! We'll take you to Princess Bubblegum and help you remember, okay?"

"Sure... um... Finn? You said that's your name, right?" The girl asked.

"Sure is!"

"Do you, um... know what year this is...?"

"Year? What do you mean?"

"Like... I remember only a little... it was... two thousand something... so if we subtract that from the year it is now, we can figure out how much time has past." The girl said.

"Well, I have no idea what that means but maybe PB will know if you ask her." Finn smiled.

"Oh... sure, okay..."

They soon reached the Candy Kingdom, going inside the castle to find PB speaking to some candy architects who were going over plans to renovate the bridge.

"Hey, where did Red go, by the way?" Jake asked.

"Huh, dunno..." Finn shrugged. "Maybe she had to go do something." He then approached Princess Bubblegum. "Hey PB! So, I was wondering if-"

"Not now, Finn... I'm a bit busy, can you come back later?" Princess Bubblegum said.

"Well, see, it's a bit... can I just explain real quick?"

Princess Bubblegum sighed. "Okay, you have thirty seconds..."

"Okay, so Jake, our friend Red and I were looking for free stuff at iceberg beach when I went underwater and I saw something weird, so I asked Jake to go underwater and get all big and pull the chunk of ice out, and when he did, we melted it and found a girl! A HUMAN girl! At least, I think she is... but, she doesn't remember anything, so I was wondering if you could find out anything about-"

"Time's up." Princess Bubblegum cut him off. "To answer the question you were about to ask, yes, I'll see what I can do, just bring her down to my lab but DON'T touch anything, sie verstehen?" Finn blinked, tilting his head, and PB sighed. "Forget it, just go and don't mess with any of my stuff."

"Sweet!" Finn smiled.

"Hey Finn, I'm gonna go visit Lady at her house for a bit, okay? Good luck with the brain fixing stuff." Jake said as he headed out, whistling a bit.

"Okay then... come on nameless girl, let's go wait for PB." Finn said as they headed down to her lab.

* * *

Red knelt down on the ground lightly, taking a leaf into her hands. It took a few moments before it started to curl up, burning slowly. She sighed, dusting the ashes away when it finally burned. She walked for a bit, kneeling down by a small bond to look at her reflection. even a small amount of water could cause a great amount of injury, especially because she was a low grade flame. She looked up at the sun, getting to her feet.

"Why do I have to be so weak...? My armor is stronger than anything, but... ugh, why can't I be stronger, like the Flame Princess?" She bit her lip, resting up against a tree that barely charred at her touch. "Why can't I be like her...?" She began to sing to herself. "Why can't I illuminate the night? Why can't I make someone's heart glow brighter...? Why can't I be a star in the daylight...? I wanna be as strong as the armor I forge, I want to be the best I can be, I've got to have the courage, I wanna burn wild and free!" She looked down at her hands as she tried to produce flames, only a small bit lighting up in her hands, causing her to run her hands through her hair and fall to her knees, looking down at the ground sadly. "What good am I if I can't be who I was born to be...?" She asked herself, sighing. "Well... I guess I have friends now, at least..." She looked to the sky once more, noticing it was late afternoon now. "Oh, crud! I've lost track of time, they must have left the Ice Kingdom by now...!" She got to her feet, running out of the forest to find Finn and Jake.

* * *

Down in Princess Bubblegum's lab, Finn and the girl sat on a patient styled bed, a bit bored from the wait.

"So... um... sorry if I'm not very helpful... I don't even know what to talk about... being I don't even know much about myself."

"Aw, don't be bummed out! I'm sure you were pretty awesome before you got frozen up... I wonder what things were like before..."

"So do I..." She chuckled a bit.

"Don't worry, PB will totes help fix your brain... she's really good at science and that junk."

"Oh... well, I hope so... do you think it's going to be a bit much?"

"Huh?"

"Well, I mean... I hope I'm not being an imposition..."

"Um... not sure what that word means, but you're going to be awesome! And if you're human, that would be SUPER awesome!"

She furrowed her brow. "I don't understand... are you the only human left...?"

"Yeah... well, there is Mo but he's like really old and his legs don't work, and-"

"There's... no more...? Where... are they?"

"Oh, they all died in the Great Mushroom War." Finn frowned when the girl stared at him in horror. "Hey, are you okay? I- woah!" Finn exclaimed, catching the girl as she fainted. "Hey, are you okay? Nameless, wake up!"

"Alright, I'm here..." Princess Bubblegum sighed. "Now, what is it that you-"

"PB, something's wrong! I was talking to her and she just... passed out!" Finn frowned.

"Alright... help me put her on the table and remind me what I'm dealing with here." Princess Bubblegum said. Finn retold her the story, and the princess actually seemed intrigued. "A human from before the war... this could be important, Finn... who knows what historical knowledge she could have... I'll see what I can do."

After the girl was hooked up to a couple machines, Finn watched intently as Princess Bubblegum printed out papers, observing measurements and nodding to herself.

"Um... so what's going on?" Finn asked.

"Well... this is interesting... being you're the only confirmed human I know of, I am comparing her brain scans to yours... it seems like she has accelerated development in these areas but there is little actual brain activity... also, the portion of the brain where her memory is, here, is having signs of increased activity, but it's very sluggish, no surprise there. But how was she so well preserved...?"

"Um... can you find out more about her? Maybe like, who she was, where she lived, or... her name?"

"I can't do that, Finn... what I CAN do is use this machine to stimulate the memory component of her brain to help her remember these things."

"Sweet! Will that take long?" Finn asked.

"Memories don't come back overnight... it will take a while and she only may remember a little at a time."

"Oh... well, I will do what I can to help!"

"Excellent. I want to learn as much from her as possible."

Jake entered the lab then, smiling. "Hey, how's everything going with the mystery girl?"

"Oh, good timing, Jake. I want to ask both you and Finn to do something. I have a special task for you both. I want you both to befriend her and find out as much as possible about her past in context with historical happenings before the war. The more I learn, the more I can record in my history writings." Princess Bubblegum requested.

"Sure." Jake smiled. "But um... what happens when we find out all this stuff?"

"You can do whatever you want after you find everything out... I'm going to continue to analyze these readings for now, okay?" Princess Bubblegum said.

"Alright! Thanks, PB!" Finn smiled.

"Okay, that should be enough stimulation for now... I'll have my Banana Guards carry her on a stretcher to your tree house, where she can rest and recover. When she wakes up, don't overwhelm her, but try to find out what you can as soon as possible."

"Sure thing! Thanks again!" Finn said as he waved, going along with the Banana Guards and Jake back to the tree house.

* * *

"Hey, Jake?" Finn asked from his sleeping bag in bed.

"Yeah, Finn...?" Jake replied from his bed which was an open drawer in a dresser.

"I hope the nameless girl can remember who she is. Maybe we can bring her on adventures and she can teach me about human stuff."

"Yeah... this has got to be giving you deep feels, dude." Jake said.

"Mmhm. I wonder how she did do that though..."

"Do what?"

"Like what PB said... being preserved and not all gross in that iceberg."

"No idea, Finn..." Jake said sleepily as he yawned. "We'll find out in the morning..."

"Okay. Goodnight, Jake."

"Goodnight, Finn."

As Jake closed his eyes to go to sleep, Finn's remained wide open as he stared at the ceiling in deep thought. What if she really was human? Would she remember who she was? What was she really like? What was her world, the human world, like before the Great Mushroom War? He was becoming impatient and like Princess Bubblegum, wanted to find out all he could learn.

He would learn many things, some things that should remain buried in the hidden pages of history.

* * *

**And that's a wrap! This chapter probably asked more questions than it answered, but all will be answered in time! Thank you again for reading and please please please review! :D**


	3. Choosing Identity

**Hi everyone! Sorry for the delayed update, my work schedule has finally stabilized and now I've been working on this fic a bit more diligently. Thank you for your patience, and I promise I have not forgotten about you! Please sit back, relax, and enjoy! :D**

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Finn's eyes popped open, not realizing that sleep had finally overcame him that night. He groaned, sitting up as he headed into the kitchen. "Hey Jake, what's for breakf-"

"Shh..." Jake put a finger to his lips, nodding his head towards nameless. "Hey, it's okay... I mean, at least you've got your health, right?" He said to the distressed girl.

She had her head in her hands, sighing lightly. She was very thin, understandable for having been preserved for all that time. "I just... I wish I could remember..."

"Well, do you remember anything at all? Even a little bit?" Jake asked as Finn silently sat down to listen.

She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. Everything was slowed down, and floating in blue... she remembered hearing a whispering sound, reaching her hand out to something... and then everything stopped. She described the fragments of memory to them, biting her lip. "I'm not much help... I don't even remember my own name."

"Don't beat yourself up over it... you're all messed up now, but we are going to help you remember so we can heal your brain!" Finn fist pumped the air.

The girl smiled a bit, nodding. "Thank you, both... I really appreciate your hospitality."

Just then, someone called Finn and Jake from outside, and they smiled when they saw Red outside. "Hey, forget about me?"

"Red! Come on in, the door's open!" Finn shouted.

"Hey Finn, I think we should all take nameless here on an adventure with us... maybe it'll help her feel less bummed out." Jake suggested.

"Great idea! We can even ask Red to make her some armor and a sword or something!" Finn smiled.

"Someone say they need armor?" Red giggled as she floated into the tree house.

Nameless furrowed her brow, her eyes widening. "Oh... oh my- fire! That girl is on fire!"

"Well of course I am, I'm a flame person, silly!" Red laughed.

Nameless looked to the others in confusion. "Oh..." Finn cleared his throat. "Okay, you know before how we were in Princess Bubblegum's lab, and they were all made out of candy? Well, she comes from a place where everything is made out of fire."

She rubbed her head, shaking it. "This is all so confusing... none of this makes any sense..."

"Wait... so they had no flame people where you came from? That's so weird!" Red exclaimed.

"I don't think so... it's hard to really get a clear vision of things... who knows how long I've been trapped in that iceberg. If it's been a really long time... then nothing is like it was before." Nameless frowned.

"Well then, better get used to us then! Hm... I can forge you some armor and a nice sword easily..." Red smiled.

"Oh, we got our gold back from those gold gnomes Red! We can pay you back now." Finn smiled, grabbing a treasure chest to give her, grunting as he pushed it towards her.

"Oh... um, thanks." She cleared her throat.

"What's the matter? Not enough gold?"

"No... it's not that. It means our contract is up now."

"Huh?"

"You know... that we'd hang out and stuff." Red frowned.

"Aw, hey, don't be upset! We can still hang out, right? I mean, we'll need help teaching her how to go on adventures and stuff!" Finn said.

"Really?" Red smiled, tucking a strand of 'hair' behind her ear. "Fair enough. Alright then, If you don't mind, I'll need to take your measurements to make your armor. You're a bit on the thin side, so I'll make it with some lighter metals... it'll still be good quality though. This will just get you used to wearing it."

"Oh, thank you." Nameless smiled. "This is a bit exciting."

"Of course! Hey Jake, do we have any old swords around that nameless can use in the meantime?" Finn asked.

"Nah... maybe we can demonstrate hand to hand combat first... always good to know that in case you lose or break your weapon." Jake said. "You've gotta be a tough girl to survive in this neighborhood!" Jake laughed.

Nameless cleared her throat, looking a bit unsure. "I... I'm a bit nervous about this. What if I can't fight well?"

"Well, you've got two of the best teachers in the world, we're heroes!"

Nameless smiled, and the four headed out after Red took her measurements. She went to the fire kingdom to start forging some armor, while nameless joined Finn and Jake in the grassy fields as they headed out.

"So... where are we going?" She asked.

"The best place to learn hand to hand combat... the Marauder's Village! We're diving right in, head first!" Finn smiled. "If anyone knows how to rough it up, they do!"

"Oh, um... okay then..."

"Don't worry, you can just watch how Finn and I do it, and then you can practice on us. When you get better at it THEN you can try it on one of those tough guys."

"Ah... okay then. Are you sure this is alright?"

"Of course it is!" Finn laughed as they approached the village. "Hey guys, long time no see!"

"Finn! Have you come for some rough housing? You must be rusty!" The head marauder laughed heartily.

"Yeah, I need some practice and I need to help my friend learn how to fight!" Finn grinned.

"Well, you've come to the right place!" Head marauder said, and nameless cringed a bit as they started to rough house, beating each other up quite a bit.

"Um... I'm going to get myself killed." She said.

"Hey, don't worry about it... here." Jake said, getting into a fighting position. "First rule of fighting; you've got to look tough. Hold your fists up like this and make a growly face like this... grrrr... come on, let me see your growly face."

Nameless imitated Jake, making a scowl and tried to growl as best as possible. "Grrrrrururrrr... like that?"

"Yeah, that's gonna scare the pants off of someone! Okay, now start with a jab... uh huh, that's good, gotta be fast."

Nameless smiled as she got more into it, chuckling a bit. Finn took a bit of a break from rough housing to look on, smiling as Jake taught her a bit. Nameless cracked a smile, blinking a bit when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She tilted her head, part of her vision blurring a bit for a moment as she took a step forward. "What is..." She looked over to see Jake's movements, as well as everyone else's, slow a bit, and she furrowed a brow as she noticed something out of the corner of her eye again. She tilted her head, noticing something odd about that cloud in the distance... was that... was it hanging by a string? She reached out, gasping as her fingertips registered the feeling of the string in her hand, plucking the cloud from the sky to feel it... it was like paper... she looked over at the steam coming from the river, seeing that it was paper, and the mountain man just barely visible beyond was bolted together with sheets of metal. She felt a whoosh of air, turning to see Jake's fist, and just as it was millimeters away, a sudden flash of fragmented images flew through her mind, a voice whispering as she felt the world spinning, falling, darkness overcoming her.

_The world you know is a lie... it will decay... as all lies do... into the truth._

Jake's eyes widened, looking from his hand to nameless. "OH CRUD!"

Finn sprinted over to her. "Jake, what did you do? You knocked her out cold!"

"I didn't mean it man, I'm sorry! I... she was doing so good, I-"

"You don't punch at her face when she doesn't even know how to fight Jake!" Finn looked down at nameless, tapping her face. "You're gonna jack up her brain even more!" Finn grunted as he lifted her up, carrying her bridal style to a table to lay her on. She slowly came to, holding her cheek which was already blossoming in dark blues and violets.

"Oh my glob, I am so sorry!" Jake frowned. "I didn't mean... I thought you had that, I really did!"

Nameless looked around, furrowing her brow worriedly but sighed with relief when everything seemed normal. "I, uh... it's okay."

"Can you see straight? How many fingers am I holding up? Please tell me you aren't blind!" Finn exclaimed.

"No, no I can see fine... just, something weird happened..." Nameless replied.

"Weird... like what?" Finn asked.

Before she could answer, Red showed up then, smiling proudly. "Special delivery! New set of armor and a nifty new sword!" She frowned then. "Hey, is she okay?"

"No... I kinda knocked her lights out..." Jake frowned.

Red gasped. "You did what?"

"It was an accident! I should have taught her how to avoid attacks first..." Jake groaned.

"It's okay, Jake... you didn't mean it." Nameless smiled lightly.

"Well... it doesn't look so bad..." Finn bit his lip as she winced when he touched her face. "Sorry..."

"Maybe that's enough rough housing for one day, Finn. Your little friend has a lot of catching up to do." Head marauder said.

"Hey! Her brain's all jacked up and she was frozen in ice for a bazillion years! Give her a break." Finn frowned. "Come on, you guys."

The group headed back to just outside the tree house, Finn and Jake helping nameless trying on her armor while Red watched, nodding in satisfaction. "Perfect fit. If she changes in size I can always make a new set and with stronger metal."

"Maybe we should do something a bit less dangerous so nameless doesn't get hurt again... if she's human and something happens to her, I'll be the only one left again!" Finn frowned.

"You know, it must be annoying to always be called 'nameless.' Maybe we can do some fun stuff while we come up with an actual name for her or something... unless you like being called nameless."

"Uh... yeah, that sounds nice actually..." Nameless smiled.

"Great! What should we do then?" Red asked.

Jake smiled a bit, before hearing his phone ring and looking at it to see Lady calling him. "Lady? Hey, I-... sure, I can come over... uh huh... oh, come on, T.V seriously needs to get a job or something, Lady... alright, we'll talk about this when I get over there."

"What's the matter, Jake?" Finn asked.

"Oh, T.V's just giving Lady a hard time again about... you know, stuff. I've got to go over. You kids have fun and stay out of trouble!" Jake said as he headed towards Lady's house.

Nameless tilted her head. "T.V...?"

"Oh, Jake's got five kids, he and Lady Rainicorn. They're totes in love." Finn said. "So... wow, is the sun setting already...? Huh. Anything you guys want to do?"

"Well... I like to star watch sometimes... when I was little, someone told me that stars were huge spheres of fire that are just really far away. I don't know if it's true, but I like them because of that." Red said.

The three lay in the grass, Nameless feeling oddly at ease as she looked up at the stars with Finn and Red. "I wonder if I ever did anything like this... if I ever had friends."

"I'm sure you did all sorts of awesome stuff, nameless! I mean, you are pretty awesome." Finn smiled.

"How do you know I'm awesome, though...? I mean... no one knows anything about me. I have very little idea of what my life was like before."

"Maybe you're better off... sometimes I wish I could forget." Red said, sighing. "Sometimes I wish I could forget that flame people smile in my face but they think I'm some joke."

Finn frowned. "You are not a joke, Red. You're awesome too..." He looked back and forth between the two. "Come on, you guys- er, gals... you both need a confidence booster! I'm awesome, you're awesome, WE'RE awesome. Just scream it! Awesoooome!"

Nameless snickered a bit as Red laughed. "Okay, okay, I get it. I'm glad that I get to hang out with you guys. Better than a bunch of boring flame people..."

The three sat in silence for a few moments, looking up at the stars twinkling. "You know, Jake knows a lot of stuff about the stars... how they make shapes of different creatures and stories about them and stuff."

"Oh... how can you tell? There's so many, there can be all kinds of shapes they can make." Red replied.

"Hm... like that one..." Finn traced the shape with his finger. "That's the scorpion... and that one is a lion."

"I don't see how you can make out a lion out of a few stars." Red tilted her head.

"You use the stars as a sort of... connect the dots sort of thing. They form the basic idea of it, and you fill in the rest with your imagination." Finn said.

Nameless stared up at the stars Finn had just spoken of, listening to his words before closing her eyes, breathing evenly. When she opened them, she smiled, seeing the lion in the sky, a transparent form with the stars inside it prancing around. Her eyes lit up as she saw other forms take shape, watching them all move and interact with each other in the sky. She looked over to one, her eyes meeting with one with a goat head as it swished its fish tail. It was an odd creature, and the moment was broken when Finn shook her lightly.

"Huh?" Nameless looked over at him.

"Hey, Jake just called, he's heading back home. We're gonna go inside now." Finn smiled.

"Well, I should get going home too..." Red sighed.

"Can't you stay here?" Finn asked.

"Finn, I may be low grade but I could still burn your house down. Not a good idea."

"Aw... okay. See you tomorrow, Red."

Red waved lightly, heading back to the fire kingdom. Meanwhile, Nameless and Finn headed into the tree house to get washed up and ready for bed. Nameless headed into her area when she noticed something, turning her head and squinting her eyes in the low light. She took a few steps forward, reaching out to grasp a book stuffed on a shelf with various other items cluttered about. She went over to where a lantern was, turning it on and flipping through the book, seeing it was about constellations. "Huh... coincidence." She said to herself, flipping through the pages until she stopped, tracing her hand over the image of a goat with a fish tail. She looked down at the name, trying to make it out. "Kæprɨˈkɔrnəs... Kapri... Ka... Kapra..." She gasped suddenly, the book dropping from her hands as she gripped her head then.

Jake sighed a bit as he came in, rubbing his head. He heard a gasp, blinking before going into the other room. "Hey... uh, nameless... you okay?" He frowned, going over to her. "Are you sick...?"

"Kapra... it... it sounds so... it sounds... like me... I think... it IS me..."

Jake's eyes widened then. "Finn!" He shouted as he jumped onto him, Finn making an 'oof!' sound in the process. "Finn, nameless remembered something!"

"What?" He popped out of his sleeping bag, racing into the other room. "Nameless! What did you remember?"

"I... there's something about this... Capricornus. The pronunciation... it... gives a tingly feeling on my tongue... like... like it belongs to me somehow, or I to it." She said.

"Hm... I think we'll need to talk to PB again. Maybe she knows what it means... don't worry nameless, we'll-"

"No." She said, smiling lightly. "I want to have a name now. It will be Kapra. It seems right for me."

"That's a nice name." Jake smiled. "Well, alright then, Kapra! Nice to meet you!"

Kapra smiled, glancing at Jake and Finn, who both gave their thumbs up. "Sounds good to me... Kapra." Finn smiled. After everyone went to bed, Finn snuggled into his sleeping bag once more as he looked over to Jake. "So... how'd it go with T.V?"

Jake sighed. "Well... had to give him some tough love. I told him if he's gonna stay at home he's got to help around the house... it was a bit rough at first but we worked things out."

"Good... say, Jake... do you think Kapra was her real name...?"

"Could be... she said it feels right, so maybe it was close."

"I hope she remembers more... just don't whack up her head anymore..."

Jake frowned. "I told you it was an accident... it was weird though. It was like she just went off into space or something. Like her brain went to cloud kingdom."

"Maybe it's because her head is still jacked up." Finn shrugged. "But if we fix it up and help her remember, maybe I can learn what it means to be a human, and get brownie points with PB."

"Literally!" Jake said before yawning. "All that parenting talk wore me out... goodnight, Finn."

"Night, Jake." Finn said, smiling to himself before whispering. "Night... Kapra."

* * *

**D'aww, how sweet! What other secrets does Kapra hold? Is there more to her than meets the eye? Stay tuned and keep on the lookout for updates! Thanks for reading and please review! :)**


	4. Delving Deep

**Hi there, readers! Trying to get these updates in a bit quicker to keep this story rolling, the reviews have been a bit scarce so hopefully we're going in a good direction! Nonetheless, things are still a bit slow for the time being until we get a bit deeper (as the title happens to suggest) into this story. So without further ado, please sit back, relax and enjoy! :D**

* * *

Princess Bubblegum narrowed her eyes as she bit her lip, adding a drop of liquid to a petri dish and placing it under a microscope. "Hm... I just don't understand it... it's as if she was never in that ice for that long... but that's impossible, because the carbon dating says otherwise..." She mumbled a bit to herself as she looked into the microscope a bit, until she heard one of her machines beeping. She blinked, looking over and slowly going over to take the ticket that came out, reading it. "Brain scan..." She muttered, but as she read, her eyes widened, shaking her head as she read it once, twice, three times. She thengot the results of the DNA, holding the paper in her other hand, shaking her head. "What in the heck is going on with you...?" She whispered, her eyes widening more.

* * *

"Okay now, Jake... don't knock her out this time." Finn said, giving him a firm nod.

"I won't, I won't..." Jake frowned, turning to Kapra. "Okay, so if you want to be a good adventurer, and eventually a hero, you've got to not only attack well, but dodge them too. Hand to hand combat is key because if something happens to your weapon and you don't know squat after that, you're toast."

"Okay..." Kapra smiled, putting her hands up.

Red was there also, smiling as she sat on a rock just a few feet from them. "That armor should help in the event Jake doesn't follow Finn's advice." She chuckled.

As Kapra and Jake trained together, Finn heard someone approaching, turning to find, to his surprise, that it Peppermint Butler, the red and white striped candy clearing his throat before speaking.

"Finn, the princess requests an audience with you immediately, it's urgent. You must come with me."

"Huh...?" Finn blinked, looking from Peppermint Butler, to Kapra and Jake, back to him. "Oh, um, sure. Let me just let the others know first." He went over to them, and Red tilted her head.

"Hey, everything okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I think PB needs me for something important. Just keep an eye on them for me, okay?" Finn smiled.

"Sure thing." Red nodded.

Finn turned to Peppermint Butler, and the two headed together towards the Candy Kingdom.

* * *

"This way." Peppermint Butler said as he escorted Finn down to PB's lab. Once inside, Finn cleared his throat as Peppermint Butler closed the door as he left them to themselves.

"Hey, PB? Everything okay?" Finn asked, walking up to her. "What'cha looking at?"

"Okay... you must listen to me very carefully now." Princess Bubblegum started, her back still to him. "Based on some of the results I've collected... I can tell you a few things. One... according to her DNA, she is human."

Finn's eyes widened, his mouth hanging open a bit as this sunk in. "She's... she's human? Really... human? Like... me?" He breathed.

"Yes... and no." Princess Bubblegum turned then, a seriousness in her features. "See... right now, it's dormant... but according to her brain scan, some portions have been dramatically changed from their normal state... evolved, in a sense."

"Wait, so... is that good?" Finn tilted his head.

"I'm not sure, Finn... I'm asking you to keep an eye on her and report anything significant that she remembers or any odd behavior. Anything suspicious must come to my attention immediately, do you understand?" PB asked.

Finn nodded, glancing around a bit. "Did you find anything else about her...?"

"Yes... I got her carbon dating results back as well, and... she's over a thousand years old, Finn. So indeed... she lived through the Great Mushroom War."

Finn stood still, his eyes wide as he processed this.

She knew what humans were like.

She knew about them.

She was like him.

* * *

"Wow, you learn fast!" Red commented. "Look at you go with that sword!"

Kapra giggled, sword fighting with Jake, who made his hand into the shape of a blade. "I guess I just have good teachers!" She stopped for a moment, feeling a cool breeze behind her, and she turned. Upon doing so, she furrowed her brows as she began to see odd things like she had in the marauder's village. She tilted her head, the clouds in the sky once again on strings, only they seemed to be worn, some almost falling off the strings. She looked over to the tree house which was nothing but dead branches, the sky grey and the ground seemed to crunch under her, looking down to see dead, crinkled paper leaves. "Jake...?" Kapra called, looking around her to see no one. "What is this? Where did you guys go?"

_They were never there... they aren't there now... and they will never be there... you are completely... utterly... undeniably alone. You always have... are... and always will be._

Kapra looked all around her, gasping for air as she began to run. "Jake! Red! Finn!" she shook her head. "No... no, this is just... this is just my imagination..."

Meanwhile, Finn was returning from the Candy Kingdom, still shocked by what he learned. He was forced out of his deep thinking when he heard Jake calling him, snapping to attention when Jake and Red approached.

"Finn, Kapra's gone all crazy! She was doing just fine and learning sword fighting when she started talking to herself and she just ran off! You've gotta help me look for her!" Jake cried.

Finn gasped. "Oh no! I'm on it, where did she go?"

"That way!" Jake pointed.

"Oh man, I hope she's not heading for the Ice Kingdom!"

"Here, I'll stay here, okay? You guys go look for her." Red suggested. "I don't do well in ice."

"Okay." Finn nodded, running off with Jake. "Man, I don't see her any- there! I see her!"

"Oh crud, she's headed for the Haunted Swamp!" Jake exclaimed as they ran after her.

Kapra looked all around as she plunged herself into the swamp, gripping her head as she continued to hear a voice whisper to her.

_Your mind is still... it thinks it is sick... that it needs to recover... to heal... but your mind... has been swallowed up in silly little dream... what you are beginning to see... is the truth. The truth that all things will deteriorate... erode... rot away into nothingness... all things come from nothing, so shall they once again become nothing..._

Finn and Jake squinted their eyes, trying to see through the thick fog as they began to make their way into the murky swamp water. "Kapra!" Finn called, deeply troubled as he looked around worriedly. "Kapraaaa!"

Jake bit his lip, but tilted his head when he noticed small, but wide, ripples of water gently brushing against him. "Finn... these ripples are coming from something... maybe it's her."

"Really?" Finn hopped off Jake, splashing into the water and wading forward.

"No Finn, wait!" Jake called out.

"Kapra! Please come back, I just found out you're human! We have so much to talk about, to..."

Kapra slowly waded towards a glowing light coming from within the swamp, emitting a sickly green color through the murky water. As she went forth, she slowly sunk under, the surface bubbling.

Jake groaned. "Finn! Where'd you go? Come on Finn, don't get lost-"

"NOOO!" Finn screamed, diving in after Kapra. He swam as best as he could muster, haunted spirits in the lake whispering as they dragged Kapra down.

"_We do the bidding of the one who tells us the secret of the unawakened..._" They whispered.

Finn elbowed and shoved through them, reaching a hand out to Kapra, struggling but finally grabbing her hand. However, more haunted swamp spirits surrounded him, their faces empty, hollow, their hands grabbing at him and Kapra. Finn squeaked as he tried to fight them off, his eyes widening as his lungs screamed for oxygen. His vision became spotty when he suddenly felt a sharp tug upward, passing out as slushy sounds lulled in his ears. When cool air hit his skin, he jolted awake, coughing and sputtering out water.

"Wha- huh... J- Jake! What happened? Did you find-"

"She's right here, dude... we need to get out of this swamp and clean up." Jake said, and Finn frowned, hoisting Kapra onto Jake's back as they headed back. Once at the tree house, they cleaned up, Kapra barely conscious to do so before she fell asleep in her bed.

"What do you think is wrong with her?" Red asked Finn as he sat outside with her.

"I dunno..." He replied as he kicked around a small pebble. "PB said something about her brain being different... what if her head is sick?"

"Well... I'm sure there's a way to help make it better. Anyway... I should get going home..." Red frowned a bit. "Wish I could stay."

"Yeah..." Finn nodded. "Maybe we can figure that out, too..."

"Thanks, Finn. I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Good luck." Red waved goodbye as she headed off.

Inside, Kapra slowly opened her eyes, glancing around. "Jake...?" She called.

"Hey... how are you feeling? Everything okay?" Jake answered as he came into the room, and Finn followed him in.

"Jake... what keeps happening? I keep seeing things... hearing this voice..."

"I dunno... but don't worry. Everything is fine... it's fine fine fine finefinefinefine!" He said as he flailed his arms around, making Kapra giggle lightly.

"Maybe you're right. It could be just the mental shock from everything that's happened... thanks, you guys. I'm so grateful that I have you guys to help me out." Kapra said.

"No problem... but um, I saw PB earlier and she said some stuff... I kinda wanted to talk to you about it." Finn said.

"Oh, um... sure." Kapra smiled, and Finn sat next to her. "Did she find out anything?"

"Yeah... she said that you're definitely human... and that you lived through the Great Mushroom War... and there's something going on with your brain... some other stuff. I have all these feelings inside now... see, all this time, I thought I was the only human left. I mean, there are technically one or two others around but... it's not the same. Like Mo, who made BMO... he's really weak and can't really get around, and I don't know how much he knows about being a human. But with you... I could learn something about what I am... where I came from, what other humans were like..." Finn said.

Kapra smiled lightly, placing her hand on his shoulder gently. "Finn... I'll do my best to remember something, anything. We can learn together..." She leaned in to give him a hug. "I'm glad I'm not alone. It's... it's a nice feeling to have someone who understands."

"Yeah..." Finn smiled, hugging her back.

Jake smiled to himself as he looked at the two, sighing lightly. Inside, he was happy about this turn of events.

* * *

"Hoo... Prismo. This guy is totally killing the fun times."

"I know, but... he 'wished' to be here..."

"Ugh... he's so creepy. He just sits there."

The Lich sat with his back to Prismo and the Cosmic Owl, brooding in deep thought. They did not see, but a slow, frightening grin etched into his features as unknown to them, he was speaking to someone outside this outer dimensional location that was now his prison. Or rather... he was speaking to himself. He spoke with his mind, communicating back and forth with the mysterious entity.

_She is weak now... but she will rise, in time. Then, I shall truly strike._

**_You have made your presence known, yes?_** The Lich asked.

_Indeed... she resists me, as one would expect. She already has begun to see the truth, however... the inevitability that all life must, and will, come to an end... once she realizes this truth... and her true power arises... our desires will be fulfilled._

_**Continue to do what you must in my absence... you are the one thing that can do my bidding now... do what you must, and speak of anything significant to me as soon as it happens. Make sure my will is carried out no matter the cost... preferably... at the cost of those putrid fools... the boy, and his mangy animal.**_

_I shall do as you command... _

"Wonder what he thinks about day after day...?" Prismo asked.

Cosmic Owl narrowed his eyes, staring intensely at the Lich as he slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder, grinning freakishly at the Cosmic Owl and Prismo.

"Would you like to see...?" The Lich asked, chuckling lowly.

* * *

The next morning, Finn opened his eyes, rubbing them as he got up, heading downstairs and getting ready for breakfast. He took time to prepare it, bringing it to the table to sit and eat it. As he did so, he stopped, furrowing a brow.

Jake walked up to the table to sit with Finn, tilting his head when he noticed Finn's odd expression. "Finn? You okay buddy...?"

"... I'm... sinking... I can't breathe..."

"Huh? What are you-"

"I can't breathe! I can't breathe, please, save me!" Finn screamed, and he started to flail a bit as he fell onto the floor.

"Finn!" Jake cried, going over to shake his friend. "Finn, tell me what's wrong! Finn!"

Finn stopped flailing suddenly, his expression a bit confused as he lay on his back, reaching an arm out. "Who is... that...? Why... does he look like that...?"

"Okay... dude, you're scaring me... Finn, snap out of it...!"

"I feel cold now... so... cold..." Finn said before jolting up a bit, gasping as he held his head. "J- Jake!"

"What?! What's wrong with you man?"

"I just had the weirdest dream!"

"Weird dream? You were freaking out on the floor saying all kinds of weird junk and scaring the poop out of me!"

"Huh? No, I'm... in bed?" Finn looked around, and before either of them could say anything, Kapra walked into the room, yawning and stretching her arms.

"Hey... everything okay, you guys?" Kapra asked.

Finn cleared his throat, standing up. "Yeah... just... had a weird dream."

"Really? Me too... I think it may have been a memory... I wanted to tell you guys about it."

"Oh... yeah, tell us!" Finn exclaimed.

"Well..." She started, going over to sit down. "I think I know how I was frozen. I was in a train station... no, it was a subway station... I was running from something... the street above us caved in causing an open hole, and water began to flood in. I was trying to get out... but... then I saw... I saw a man... but it couldn't have been, he... there was something off about him. He saw me, and I him... he said something but he was too far away for me to hear... and then I felt everything just stop."

Finn shook his head, holding it for a moment. "Wait... how... I saw that! I saw your dream! In MY head!" He exclaimed. "How... how is that possible?"

"Huh? You... saw my dream?"

"Yeah, just now!" Finn said.

"Okay, this is too weird... we need to find out more about this." Jake frowned. "Who could we ask...?"

"Hm... do you think Marceline would know anything?"

"I dunno... we should go see her anyway, haven't visited her in a few days."

"Marceline?" Kapra tilted her head.

"Oh, she's the vampire queen. She seems a bit scary, but she's pretty cool."

* * *

Marceline was strumming her bass, humming some tunes when she heard a knock at her door. She floated over, smiling when she saw Finn and Jake, but raised a brow when a third, unknown guest stood there. "Hey, you guys... who's your friend?"

"Hey Marceline! This is Kapra. I discovered her in an iceberg the other day! She's HUMAN!" Finn smiled.

"Yeah, but her brain is jacked up and now Finn's brain was jacked up this morning... is jacked up brains contagious?"

"Jake, stop that!" Finn frowned. "Anyway... she can't remember much, and I had a dream at the same time as she did of something she remembered. Can you help us make sense of this biz?"

"Hm... seems a bit complicated. This is something my dad may have an idea of how to fix." She sighed. "Do we really have to go see him? I wanna have some fun, and no offense, my pops tends to kill the fun."

"I know... and, I'm afraid to scare her, but... we've got to figure this out. I want her brain to get better."

"So you want to see my DAD? Finn, if anything, he'd probably screw her up worse just by looking at him... but, okay... maybe we can play some sick tunes afterwards... if she survives, that is."

Kapra gasped. "Your highness... your dad... he won't-"

Marceline burst out laughing after blinking for a moment. "D- did you... just call me your highness?"

"Y- Yes... Finn told me you're a queen, so... I-"

"Dude, just call me Marceline. I'm not all prim and proper and that junk. Just be chill and we're cool, okay? A friend of Finn's is a friend of mine."

Kapra smiled, the two shaking hands. "It's nice to meet you, Marceline. But... I won't be causing trouble for your dad, will I?"

"No one causes trouble for my dad. He causes trouble for everyone else. Come on, let's go to the Nightosphere..." Marceline sighed lightly. "Not how I planned to spend my day... I love my pops but, seriously..."

"On it!" Finn had already drawn the face and threw milk on it, reciting the incantation to open the portal. The four made their way into the Nightosphere, and once there, Kapra frowned deeply, clinging a bit to Finn as she looked around at the hellish landscape. Finn couldn't help but blush lightly at the contact, giving Kapra a reassuring pat on the back. "Don't worry... nothing bad will happen. You've got us."

Marceline floated first, Jake carrying Finn and Kapra on his back as he sprouted wings to fly. They went ahead of the long line to Hunson's lair, heading inside once they reached it.

"I SAID I'M NOT TAKING ANY MORE APPOINTMENTS FROM THOSE INFERNAL- Oh, Marceline! My deviously delightful daughter!" Hunson smiled widely, going over to greet her. "And to what do I owe this pleasure?" His smile faded a bit, grimacing at Finn, Jake, and- "Uh... Marceline? Is that a human? ANOTHER human?"

"Yeah, hi dad. She's what we're here for. We need your help with something." Marceline said flatly.

Hunson rubbed his forehead. "Marceline, I love you, but I will never understand your enjoyment with associating with insignificant life forms such as dogs and... humans." He made a face.

"Hey, you stop talking smack about humans and dogs, Abadeer!" Finn shouted. "Now my friend here needs help to fix her brain! She has no memory of anything!"

"And why should I care about a mindless little human like that? If she doesn't have a properly functioning mind, then I can at least thank you for bringing her here for a meal! A nice, fresh soul sounds delicious!" He growled as he opened his jaw wide.

"Daaad! Stop embarrassing me!" Marceline shouted, trying to stop her father.

As this was happening, Kapra fell on her behind, scrambling backwards as the adrenaline pumping through her veins made her sweat, her vision blurring a bit as everything began to swirl. She felt hands clawing at her, starting to writhe a bit and swatting at the hands only she could see. Hunson laughed, but noticed that something was off about the human when he stopped trying to scare the pants off of her.

"Hey, Kapra...? Kapra?" Finn went over to her. "It's okay, we won't let him hurt you! Kapra!"

Kapra looked around frantically, gasping for air. Hunson's laughter died, narrowing his eyes a bit. "Wait a moment... there's something about this human... bring her in here." Finn helped Kapra make her way into Hunson's office with Jake and Marceline, resting her on the desk where he sat in his chair, observing her closely.

"What's going on with her? Why does this keep happening?" Jake asked.

Hunson tilted his head. "Interesting... this human seems to contain something quite powerful in that little cranium of hers... it's raw, unexposed... but I can see it. And it seems something has already discovered that. I sense a dark connection has been made to the human."

"Well, get rid of it then!" Finn cried.

"No." Hunson narrowed his eyes a bit. "This connection may actually be a catalyst... a manner to awaken her mind and piece together the small fragments of memory you claim she has forgotten. This could be your only way to find out who she truly is. The only way... to open up the deepest abyss within her mind."

Finn furrowed his brows. "But... if we do that... then she stays connected to something evil... what is it she's connected to, anyway? How did it happen?"

"Now that, I am not sure of. But evil works in many ways, Finn... ways that silly humans like you cannot see. They creep and crawl, skitter along your brain until you finally realize what they're doing and then it is too late." Hunson chuckled. "Well, I must say, this human, surprisingly, intrigues me... let's see what you've got in that noggin of yours..."

* * *

**Well, interesting words by Hunson! What is going on here? What powers could she have, and why is Finn seeing into her dreams? More to come in later chapters! :D**


	5. Surfacing Dormancy

**Hello everyone! I realize it's been some time since I updated, what with work and having a bad cold. But I'm feeling more like myself again, and I'm back with an update! This chapter was a bit frustrating, I ended up losing some of my work when my computer decided to back page and retyping about a thousand words is not fun, fellow readers. But I managed, and it got done, and we are back in action! Please enjoy and don't forget to leave me lots of lovely reviews! :D**

* * *

Kapra opened her eyes, gasping lightly as she looked around. She quickly got to her feet, high winds blowing her hair around as she ventured forth. She furrowed her brows, her eyes widening as she observed the barren landscape, ruins of buildings up ahead, the ground dry as a bone and cracked. Debris stuck out of the ground, and the strong smell of death filled her nostrils. As she looked around in confusion, something began to materialize out of the sand, bones swirling and assembling as she turned.

_You are confused... why? Everything you need to know lies before you._

"Who are you...?" Kapra appeared uneasy. "What do you have to do with me?"

_Yes... you have forgotten your past life. Not that it is relevant at this point... but you are now, and were in the past, under the impression that you had others who loved you, even if they were not physically present. Your mind rationalizes the inevitable with these dreams, these lies that you convince yourself are real..._

"What does this have to do with anything? What do you know about me?"

_I know all that you refuse to acknowledge about yourself. You have all the memories you need, right in here, you refuse to see them because it would be too painful..._

"What would be? What happened to me?"

_Nothing happened to you. Plain, and simple... this is what you fail to realize... remember, that nothing truly exists. There is only you, and your silly dreams that you feel give you a reason to exist. You can do many things... create what you will, and destroy what you will, but you do it for silly reasons. You do it for love... love is a lie. A fabricated emotion. Love will always die, but power... power always lives. It may become dormant, sleep for thousands of years... but those who love have no power, those who love give their power away. Those who fight for someone else will always fail. You will see the world you love crumble because it s a farce... the truth is always lurking... waiting to be revealed, little by little..._

"Stop this... I don't understand... just go away, leave me alone!" Kapra shouted, running towards the ruins and the wind began to pick up, making her fall to her knees. She looked up as she hugged herself, seeing a cutout of a bedroom in front of her, biting her lip as she crawled towards it, a laptop sitting on the bed, glowing. She saw herself sitting on it, typing quickly and frantically. She looked over her own shoulder to see her typing pleas for someone, anyone to speak to her, and she gasped as she watched herself wither and weaken, falling off the bed slowly as a hole was created. Kapra gasped as she fell into it, breathing heavily as she heard broken phrases and saw random places and objects, all colliding and crashing together as her fragmented memories came together.

_If this is what you so desire, I will grant you your reformed memories... it is my gift to you. All I ask is when you finally see the truth... you remember what I spoke to you... and request my assistance to wipe clean the lives that participate in this lie you have made your life to be. We will wipe it clean so you may control, finally, the space that only truly contains you... _

* * *

Hunson opened his eyes, taking his hand off of Kapra's forehead as she jolted awake, gasping for air.

"Kapra!" Finn exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"F- Finn..." Kapra looked to him, calming a bit. "I... I think I've... something happened in my mind..."

"The catalyst has been done. You will begin remembering things and other... curious things." Hunson said. "Also... the reason why Finn saw your dream... is because you can astral project. You can detach your mind as you sleep, and place thoughts into the minds of those you have a strong connection with. Quite impressive for a pathetic human..."

"Look, Kapra... you seem to have been through a lot. We should get you back to Ooo and try to figure all this out." Marceline said. "Dad, I'll come back another time, okay?"

"Oh, alright... visit once in a while, my sunshine!" Hunson smiled. As she left, he sat down, pondering to himself. "Hm... I wonder what I could do with harnessed power like that..."

* * *

Back at Marceline's house, as Kapra sat on the couch, holding her head, the vampire floated over, sitting down beside her. "Hey... when I'm stressed about something, I have to get it out through singing. That always helps me. I'm gonna play some music... just sing what's in your head."

Kapra looked up at her. "But... I don't remember how to sing..." She frowned.

"It's not something you have to remember... it just happens naturally." Marceline smiled. "Come on. It's easy." She turned on her boom box to a nice beat, and strummed on her bass a bit.

Kapra stood there nervously, glancing around before looking down at her feet. Marceline bit her lip, sighing as she shut off the boom box. She floated behind Kapra, placing her hands on her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I-" Kapra started, bowing her head.

"Listen. Ooo isn't an easy place to live. You have to manage, and survive here. But you aren't alone. You have us to help you now. You have no reason to be afraid. You've got strength in you somewhere. It could be in your hands, your heart, your mind... just find it. I've been alive for a thousand years. When there's nothing left, there's the voice inside you. Don't be afraid of it. Find it, and let it talk for you." Marceline smiled.

Kapra smiled and nodded a bit, Marceline floating back over to the boom box to play it, getting her bass to strum it a bit. After getting a feel of the beat, Kapra closed her eyes, searching for the voice inside to speak.

"I'm wandering in a barren land, I seem to hold the answer in my hand, but it's slipping away like sand, I'm being stretched like a rubber band..." She sang.

"That's it!" Marceline smiled.

"I just want to know who I am, is that so hard? I want to know everything I can, not a fragment of a shard..."

Finn hopped in, pretending to have a mic in his hand. "It's so great to have someone who's like me around, who can understand and relate, I can now feel the sound, in the air- it's like meeting you was fate!"

Jake added in some of his own beats, laughing as they all sang and played together, and was happy that Kapra was getting into it. She actually didn't have a bad sounding voice, and they did their own little dance as Marceline floated around. As they did so, Kapra stopped, furrowing a brow as her eyes widened, holding her head a bit.

"I... I'm remembering something..."

Finn gasped. "W- Wait guys, hold up!" When the others quieted down, he turned back to her. "Go on, you can tell us..."

Kapra looked at Finn, biting her lip as she touched his shoulder. He gasped, furrowing his brow. He suddenly found himself in a small house, looking around a bit. It was dark, but light was glowing from a room. He slowly made his way down, hearing someone coughing and whining. He peeked inside to see a little girl curled up in a bed, watching a princess movie and singing along quietly as she rubbed her ears, coughing a bit. She was sickly and pale. She then got up, and the environment changed, melting into a new one before him as she went to her room, a bit older, playing with her dolls and talking to them. It then changed again, a bit older, and she is on a computer. She starts to cry, hugging herself as she cries out, begging for someone to save her. The environment changes once more, the laptop changing into a gaping hole in the ceiling of a subway tunnel, and Finn gasps as he finds himself in a few feet of water as Kapra frantically tries to call to someone's attention.

"Please! Whoever you are, please save me!" She reached out a hand towards something before the water swept over her, and suddenly, Finn felt cold.

When Kapra let go of his shoulder, he gasped, looking at her as he realized he was back in Marceline's house. "How... was that-"

"- my memories... yes, Finn. I... it's starting to come together... and... I don't like what I see."

Finn frowned at first, but appeared determined. "Don't worry. We'll make new memories, memories that you WILL like and that will be awesome. I promise, I'll always care about you."

Kapra smiled, hugging Finn. "And however I can, I promise to always protect you."

* * *

Red sighed as she finished up for the day, putting away her tools and cleaning up. She was in the middle of organizing a few things when she heard someone come in.

"Hey, sorry but, I'm closed for the day. You can come back tomorrow if you like." Red informed.

The small group of flame people narrowed their eyes, one stepping forward to speak.

"We aren't here to get your armor. You should be ashamed to even be in public. Why would anyone get armor from the likes of you?"

"Excuse me? Because my armor is the best quality in all of-"

"You good for nothing low grade! You couldn't even burn bone dry hay!"

Red frowned. "If you came here to make fun of me then just leave!"

"No... I think YOU'RE the one who needs to leave. This is you're only warning, low grade. Be gone with your stupid armor tomorrow or we'll make you pay. There's no room for someone like you around here."

"But this is my shop! You can't tell me to leave!"

"Well, we're telling you, and if you don't, we'll MAKE you." One of the flame people grabbed one of her display stands, knocking it over and making a mess. "Just a little taste of what we'll do, low grade. Better listen to what we say."

Red frowned deeply, trying to charge up a decent flame but could manage just a few small ones. The flame people laughed mockingly at her as they headed out. She fell to her knees, looking at her hands before closing her eyes tightly. "Why do I have to be so weak... I make the strongest armor in Ooo but I can't even fight off some stupid flame people!" She sniffled, biting her lip. "No, don't cry. Don't be weak. Have to stay strong. I've never cried before and I won't start now." She stood up, sighing. She had a lot to pack.

* * *

Back at the tree house, Finn and Jake were making some snacks as Kapra and Marceline hung out on the roof, now dark enough where Marceline wouldn't get burned.

"You've been alive for over a thousand years?" Kapra blinked.

"Yeah... I've seen some crazy stuff." She chuckled. "Look, don't worry about my dad. He can be pretty scary, but he's really a big softie. He's just annoying at times."

Kapra smiled, turning when Finn and Jake joined them. "Is that ice cream? I want some!"

"Here you go!" Jake tossed over the tub and a spoon, and Kapra happily ate from it. They hung out for a while until Kapra noticed an approaching glow in the distance.

"Hey, what is that?" Kapra asked.

"Hey... that looks like... it's Red!" Finn exclaimed. He hopped down through the house, coming out the front door to greet her. "Hey Red, come to join us-... hey, what's the matter?"

Red looked up at Finn sadly. "Hey Finn... I'm sorry to bother you, but... I've been driven out of my shop by a flame gang. They don't take low grades too kindly, and I guess my good business got their attention. I hate to ask you this... but I have no where else to go, Finn. Can I stay with you? I mean... I can try to stay away from anything too flammable, and-"

"Red, that flame gang can go get their butts kicked because you are awesome, and I am going to build you your own house right here." Finn smiled. "Hey guys!" He shouted up to the roof. "We have to go get some firewood so we can build Red her own house!"

Kapra blinked, looking at Jake and Marceline. She floated down whereas Jake held onto Kapra, stretching his legs so he could touch down to the ground and placed her on her feet.

"Is everything okay?" Kapra asked.

"Well, Red got kicked out of her shop because of some stupid flame people." Finn grumbled. "We need to build her a house!"

"Finn... thank you for this. I... I'm so grateful." Red smiled.

Finn ran into the house to grab Kapra's sword and armor. The group headed into the Forest of Trees, looking for large trees to make a house out of. Marceline swung her axe, chopping a tree with one swift move. Jake grew in size to uproot trees, and Finn would use his sword to slice through trees easily. Kapra sighed, running a hand through her hair. She had made a one inch dent in the tree she was working on, and was already feeling sore in her hands.

"Everyone is saying I have all this power... I think they have the wrong person..." She said to herself, sighing.

As she continued to labor, wiping her brow, she suddenly heard a rustling behind her, giggling a bit. "Jake, is that you sneaking up on me back there-" When she turned, her eyes widened when she was met with a mouthful of large, sharp teeth.

"Now, no need to be alarmed, little girl…"

"What do you want? What are you?" Kapra asked, taking a step back.

"I, as opposed to common belief of the legendary 'where wolf,' am in fact a whywolf, and I have stumbled upon you by luck and I plan to eat you. However, because we respect the inquiry of knowledge and unanswered questions, I will answer yours. We feed primarily on house people, but for many weeks now, due to us being repelled by a chemical substance known as obnoxygen, we have grown very hungry and are desperate to find anything to fill us. So, my fleshy friend, it seems you are the answer to this formula tonight! But don't fret… if you cooperate, I will make your death swift, and quick." The whywolf chuckled, approaching Kapra.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Finn cried as he ran toward them, pouncing through the air and unfurling his grass sword. He landed a warning slice into the ground, gritting his teeth as he now stood between Kapra and the whywolf. "Don't you even think about laying a claw on her!"

"You think you can stop me, little boy? I am not here alone!" The whywolf laughed as more emerged from the shadows, nearing Finn and Kapra. They lunged, and Finn hopped among the group, slicing and dicing.

Kapra scrambled backwards to grab her sword, gasping when she noticed Finn was having a bit of difficulty fighting all of them off. She cried out, running towards one and stabbing its arm. It howled, growling as it swiped at Kapra with its other arm, making her fly back into a tree, knocking the wind out of her. She coughed, groaning as she sat up. She shook her head, but widened her eyes when she saw one of the whywolves holding Finn by his shirt collar, dangling him in the air.

"Kapra, run!" Finn shouted.

"NO!" Kapra screamed. "Please, take me, don't hurt him, please!"

"You two have caused us enough trouble! You will have the pleasure of watching us eat him first! Say goodbye to your fleshy friend, little girl!" A whywolf shouted.

Kapra began to gasp for air, her heart pounding as she felt helpless. She felt sick to her stomach as she could see one whywolf opening its mouth as it approached Finn. She began to feel that odd feeling again, and the environment around her began to change. The calm night sky became a muddy orange color, with gray clouds dancing in a swirling madness. The trees lost their leaves, appearing like large spears reaching for the skies. The grassy ground dissolved into a dry, cracked landscape and the whywolves themselves became more grotesque, gnarled, their eyes disappearing and their tongues hanging out of their mouths. She backed up into a barren tree, or so she thought. She gasped as she was suddenly lifted into the air by tree limbs that acted like arms, crying out in surprise. She screamed for Finn, who was still struggling himself as the wind picked up.

_Why do you continue to resist? You have the power inside you, but you refuse to use it. _

"I... I don't know, I just... I can't!" Kapra exclaimed.

_You cannot because you allow yourself to not be able to. They are meaningless creatures, destroy them! Don't you want to save your friend? Or will he die by your hesitation?_

"Destroy them? I don't know if I can destroy anything!" Kapra replied.

_You not only can destroy anything... you can destroy everything! EVERYTHING!_

Kapra began to struggle. "Look, I don't know if I even have any powers, I don't know what they are or how to use them, I don't know what I can do with them but please, I need to save Finn, please tell me how to save Finn! Please!"

_Stop asking questions when the answers lie inside you! You foolish girl, fight those insignificant creatures! FIGHT!_

Finn's screaming suddenly pierced Kapra's ears when a foul whywolf was about to devour him, and all of the chaos churning around her made the adrenaline pump through her veins, sending her over the edge as she suddenly broke free of the tree limbs, gritting her teeth as she threw her head back, emitting a shattering scream as the wind picked up more. Through this, she somehow still managed to remain in midair as she did so.

Through what was happening to Kapra, Finn struggled to break free to no avail. He didn't notice what was happening to her until he heard the scream, gasping as he stared at her in shock. His eyes widened when he began to notice the trees around them creaking, being slowly uprooted, and he was dropped from the whywolf's grip as the ground shook. Jake and Marceline finally caught up to them at this point, having no time to ask questions as they stared in awe at the sight of the trees being uprooted, and once in the air, they all pointed towards the whywolves. They all tried to flee in a group, but the trees came down around them, crushing a few, but soon entrapping the rest, the roots of the trees pointing toward the sky as the trees encircled the whywolves like a cage. Finn got to his feet, still shocked from what was happening as Kapra's scream died down along with the strong winds. Because she used so much dormant power at once, she passed out, falling from the air.

"Marceline, catch her!" Finn exclaimed.

"Got it!" She shouted, catching Kapra before she could hit the ground, before touching down. "Finn, what the heck happened?"

"Are you okay?!" Jake exclaimed, hugging Finn.

"Y- Yeah... we... we were attacked by those whywolves and I was fighting them off but they were about to eat me when..." He looked to Kapra slowly.

"Wait... how did she do that...?" Jake asked, looking at her too, passed out in Marceline's arms.

"Look, we can answer these questions later. We have to get you guys back home, it's too dangerous out here." Marceline said, and the four headed out of the woods and back toward the tree house.

The whywolves groaned in hunger and defeat, not noticing someone approaching them, having been hiding behind a tree nearby in silent observance. The sound of someone scribbling something down could be heard.

"Hm..." Peppermint Butler thought to himself for a moment. "This was a very interesting turn of events. The princess will be very intrigued by this report. Starchy, make sure you have your testimony ready when we report this back to her."

"But Peppermint Butler, ah, there's some graves that need digging and-"

"NEVER MIND THE GRAVES! ... Ahem." Peppermint Butler adjusted his bowtie. "Look. The princess assigned you as my new assistant being Cinnamon Bun has gone rogue and now has formed an allegiance and has sworn loyalty to the Flame Princess. You are to do as I tell you and assist me with any tasks the princess orders me to complete. Even a simpleton like you can understand that."

"Oh, alright..." Starchy frowned.

"Very well. Now, we must return to the castle immediately. The princess will be pleased with what we observed." Peppermint Butler said as he and Starchy headed out of the woods.

* * *

**Hmm... what are Peppermint Butler and Starchy up to? Or rather, what is Princess Butler up to? What is the mysterious force communicating with Kapra? Find out more next time in our next exciting adventure! :D**


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